3 ms·

> They chose to take advantage of it. What would they do, just let Google acquire even more mobile-related patents? You think Google would never sue them? Let'

> They chose to take advantage of it. What would they do, just let Google acquire even more mobile-related patents? You think Google would never sue them? Let's not be naive, the only reason Google is a good citizen with patents today is because a retaliation would make a dent on them, and they know it. The parent is right, the problem is the patent system, which gives a disproportional power to the holder and creates these power dynamics, "eat or be eaten". There's no space for ethics or fairness there.

samspenc 13y ago
That's not quite true. The newer generation of tech companies (Google, Facebook, Twitter) have taken to using patents very very defensively, at least so far. Google has gone as far doing an "open patent non-assertion pledge" which is far beyond just not using patents: http://www.google.com/patents/opnpledge/ http://www.google.com/patents/opnpledge/ Twitter has an Innovator Patent agreement: https://blog.twitter.com/2012/introducing-innovators-patent-agreement https://blog.twitter.com/2012/introducing-innovators-patent-...
- overgryphon 13y ago
  That's because the newer tech companies haven't had enough time to build a catalog of patents to rival older Microsoft, Apple, and so forth. Do you really think Google won't do the same to younger tech companies a decade from now?
gutnor 13y ago
The problem here is rather that Google chose not to participate in the company buying the patents. What do you do after that. Leave the companies that didn't pay alone ? There used to be a time where companies would have been doing just that. But in mobile market, there is no competition anymore, there is a very rough war. 2 market leader (Nokia, Blackberry) have basically been pushed out of the market in less than 5 years. That's like incredible speed ( I work in financial software company, it takes decades of continuous bad strategy to doom a company ). Their error of judgement was all considered minor and the correction they have done should have been more than enough to limit the losses. In addition of that, only 2 players on the market manage to make money, a lot of money. In that climate, anything that can give you even a few months edge can be the difference between competing and becoming irrelevant. The smartphone market is brutal - too brutal for regular competition strategies.

samspenc 13y ago

That's not quite true. The newer generation of tech companies (Google, Facebook, Twitter) have taken to using patents very very defensively, at least so far. Google has gone as far doing an "open patent non-assertion pledge" which is far beyond just not using patents: http://www.google.com/patents/opnpledge/ http://www.google.com/patents/opnpledge/ Twitter has an Innovator Patent agreement: https://blog.twitter.com/2012/introducing-innovators-patent-agreement https://blog.twitter.com/2012/introducing-innovators-patent-...

overgryphon 13y ago
That's because the newer tech companies haven't had enough time to build a catalog of patents to rival older Microsoft, Apple, and so forth. Do you really think Google won't do the same to younger tech companies a decade from now?

gutnor 13y ago

The problem here is rather that Google chose not to participate in the company buying the patents. What do you do after that. Leave the companies that didn't pay alone ? There used to be a time where companies would have been doing just that. But in mobile market, there is no competition anymore, there is a very rough war. 2 market leader (Nokia, Blackberry) have basically been pushed out of the market in less than 5 years. That's like incredible speed ( I work in financial software company, it takes decades of continuous bad strategy to doom a company ). Their error of judgement was all considered minor and the correction they have done should have been more than enough to limit the losses. In addition of that, only 2 players on the market manage to make money, a lot of money. In that climate, anything that can give you even a few months edge can be the difference between competing and becoming irrelevant. The smartphone market is brutal - too brutal for regular competition strategies.